the apostates being left dead on the spot, and the rest returning to Mohammedism.7 Al Aswad, whose name was Aihala, was of the tribe of Ans, and governed that and the other tribes of Arabs descended from Madhhaj.1 This man was likewise an apostate from Mohammedism, and set up for himself the very year that Mohammed died.2 He was surnamed Dhu'lhemâr, or the master of the ass, because he used frequently to say, "The master of the ass is coming unto me;"3 and pretended to receive his revelations from two angels, named Sohaik and Shoraik.4 Having a good hand at legerdemain, and a smooth tongue, he gained mightily on the multitude by the strange feats which he showed them, diorem isto crederem, ni ordo Mahumedanæ ecclesiæ esset, qui longè eundem antecellit. Nam à quo tempore hæc superstitio incepit, nulla in eorum ecclesia schismata orta sunt." Opera Posth. p. 613. 1 Abulfed. p. 160. 2 Idem, Elmac. p. 9. 3 Hist. Dynast. p. 164. 4 Abulfed. ubi sup. 5 Al Beidâwi, in Kor. c. 5. 6 Abulfed. ubi sup. 7 Idem, ibid. Abulfarag, p. 173. Elmac. p. 16, &c. See Ockley's Hist. of the Saracens, vol. i. p. 15, &c. 1 Al Soheili, apud Gagnier. in not. ad Abulf. Vit. Moh. p. 158. 2 Elmac. p. 9. 3 Abulfed ubi sup. 4 Al Soheili, ubi sup. and the eloquence of his discourse:5 by these means he greatly increased his power, and having made himself master of Najrân, and the territory of al Tâyef,6 on the death of Badhân, the governor of Yaman for Mohammed, he seized that province also, killing Shahr, the son of Badhân, and taking to wife his widow, whose father, the uncle of Firûz the Deilamite, he had also slain.7 These news being brought to Mohammed, he sent to his friends, and to those of Hamdân, a party of whom, conspiring with Kais Ebn Abd'al Yaghûth, who bore Al Aswad a grudge, and with Firûz, and al Aswad's wife, broke by night into his house, where Firûz surprised him and cut off his head. While he was dispatching he roared like a bull; at which his guards came to the chamber door, but were sent away by his wife, who told them the prophet was only agitated by the divine inspiration. This was done the very night before Mohammed died. The next morning the conspirators caused the following proclamation to be made, viz.: "I bear witness that Mohammed is the apostle of GOD, and that Aihala is a liar;" and letters were immediately sent away to Mohammed, with an account of what had been done: but a messenger from heaven outstripped them, and acquainted the prophet with the news, which he imparted to his companions but a little before his death; the letters themselves not arriving till Abu Becr was chosen Khalîf. It is said that Mohammed, on this occasion, told those who attended him that before the day of judgment thirty more impostors, besides Moseilama and al Aswad, should appear, and every one of them set up for a prophet. The whole time, from the beginning of al Aswad's rebellion to his death, was about four months.8